Tutor information
Shaun McCarthy
Shaun McCarthy has had over a dozen stage plays professionally produced and a range of radio dramas broadcast. His adaptations include JM Synge’s ‘The Aran Islands’ (BBC R4 Classic Serial), a stage version of ‘A Christmas Carol’ that was a critique of David Cameron’s ‘big society’ and had a happy, unexpected ending; and a re-set of Strindberg’s ‘Miss Julie’ to Oxford 1963. Shaun teaches a range of creative writing courses for OUDCE, runs Hooligan Theatre Productions to develop his new plays and co-runs the writing events and residential writers’ retreats company ‘Stage and Page' in the UK and Italy.
Courses
Dialogue is a key writing skill for stage and screen script writers and for prose fiction and non-fiction authors. This course will explore the challenges and opportunities of writing compelling dialogue through inclusive and creative workshops.
The timelessness of quads and chapels has inspired authors to set supernatural mysteries in ancient colleges. This course will explore key ingredients of a classic ghost story and the creative skills you need to add your own haunting story to the genre.
The number and range of bizarre, suspicious deaths in and around Oxford colleges in fiction and TV adaptations is huge. We will explore the key elements of this murderous genre, and use them to plan a new and original murder mystery.